Short-handed Knights call up 3 players before road trip

The short-handed Golden Knights have brought in reinforcements for their two-game road trip to Winnipeg and Chicago.

The Knights called up left wing Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Kaedan Korczak and Brayden Pachal from Henderson on Monday. The team is down several key players, with center Jack Eichel (lower-body injury) and defensemen Alex Pietrangelo (personal reasons) and Shea Theodore (undisclosed injury) missing Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Boston. Defenseman Zach Whitecloud was also hurt 1:37 into the second period against the Bruins when left wing Taylor Hall crashed into his right leg.

Eichel is on injured reserve, according to the NHL’s media website. That means he is out a minimum of seven days from when his injury occurred. The earliest Eichel can return is Saturday against Buffalo.

Whitecloud is on long-term injured reserve, according to the website Cap Friendly. That means he is out a minimum of 10 games and 24 days.

Korczak and Pachal bring two much-needed right shots to the Knights’ blue line with the team’s entire right side from opening night — Pietrangelo, Theodore and Whitecloud — unavailable.

Korczak, a 2019 second-round pick, has six points in 24 games in Henderson and made his NHL debut Feb. 1 against Buffalo last season. Pachal, the Silver Knights captain, has seven points in 25 American Hockey League games. He played two games with the Golden Knights last year.

Rondbjerg rejoins the NHL team after playing in Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers. He has eight goals and seven assists in 23 AHL games.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.